‘Married At First Sight’ Contestants Slam the Hit Show: “It’s Excruciating to Live Through”

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If Married at First Sight seems too crazy to be real, you might be on to something! The reality series has couples tie the knot right after they meet each other and then decide whether to stay wed after eight weeks of married life. It’s probably all a charade, though, based on what whistleblowers from the Australian version of the show have said!

Simone Lee Brennan married Xavier Forsberg in Season 2, for example, and later called the experience “f--ked”… and not just because reshoots are common. “I walked down the aisle four times, said my vows three times, and we kissed at the altar twice,” she wrote in her blog.

Apparently, Xavier hadn’t been “matched” to her so much as cast. “My faith in the ‘match-making’ process dwindled away somewhat when my TV husband shared with me immediately post-wedding ceremony that he hadn’t dated for years and never actually applied for the experiment,” Simone said.

But she really knew the matchmakers had failed when Xavier “took great pleasure in asking the sound crew, camera crew, producers, and what-have-you about potential front-of-house sports presenting gigs.” He was just in it for the networking, it seems!

Worse yet, Simone said her married life was miserable. She and Xavier had “forced” conversations that ended when the cameras stopped rolling, she said, and she had to pretend their “staged” dinners at home were ones he’d actually cooked himself. All the while, Xavier claimed he had growing feelings for Simone. “Truth be told, he just wasn't that into me, the experiment, or sharing his humble man cave with a random single girl,” Simone wrote. “He didn't want a bar of it.”

Susan Rawlings, who married Sean Hollands on the show, had a similarly awful time on the show and told Perth Now she felt she was “morally obliged” to speak out. Susan said the contestants once had to boycott filming the show just to be able to use the bathroom, for example, and also claimed producers fed the contestants lines through earpieces. Most damningly, she said they completely edited their renewal ceremony, including the part when Sean said he wanted out of the relationship.

“I’m absolutely furious that no one from the show has ever contacted me to this day and asked if I’m OK or offered me any support,” she said. “It’s absolutely fake and excruciating to live through.”

All of that said, we’d love to hear from the American contestants! Though, at this point, we cringe to imagine the experiences they had…